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house rules committee
Raskin Sounds Alarm Over 'Million-Dollar Jackpot Provision' Snuck Into Senate Shutdown Bill
"One of the most blatantly corrupt provisions for political self-dealing and the plunder of public resources ever proposed."
Nov 12, 2025
House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin is calling out Republicans in the US Senate for slipping into their government funding bill a provision that would let eight GOP senators personally each rake in an extra $1 million in taxpayer money.
As reported by The Hill, the provision allows Republican senators whose data was obtained without their knowledge during former special counsel Jack Smith's investigation to sue the FBI.
"The provision, which is retroactive to 2022, only applies to members of the Senate and would allow them to sue for $500,000 if data was sought without their being notified, as well as once it was obtained," noted The Hill.
Raskin (D-Md.) responded by blasting the "million-dollar jackpot provision" in the Senate bill as "one of the most blatantly corrupt provisions for political self-dealing and the plunder of public resources ever proposed."
Raskin also contrasted Republican senators giving themselves the ability to score a quick $1 million with the economic uncertainty and anxiety facing the American people.
"If it were to pass, this astounding provision would give eight Republican senators a personal payday of at least one million dollars each paid for directly by US taxpayers," he said. "This jackpot is being set up at the same time Republicans throw millions of Americans off Medicaid and deny millions more a tax credit that helps make premiums for health insurance more affordable."
Raskin also shot down claims by the senators that law enforcement officials had violated their rights to privacy during Smith's probe, which sought Republican senators' phone records as part of his investigation into President Donald Trump's efforts to illegally remain in power after losing the 2020 presidential election.
"To be clear, there was no ‘phone tap’ or eavesdropping on the content of their conversations," he said. "The call records subpoenaed were the kind of information you see on a phone bill—a list of calls made and received."
Raskin wasn't the only House Democrat to blast the provision slipped into the funding bill. During a contentious House Rules Committee meeting on Tuesday, Rep. Joe Neguse (R-Colo.) called the provision "deeply insidious" and pushed an amendment to strip it from the legislation ahead of a vote in the House later this week.
"I think it is outrageous for these Republican senators to effectively guarantee themselves million-dollar paydays!" he said. "A retroactive provision in this bill that very clearly applies to them. The removal of all relevant immunity defenses on the part of the United States government. This is insanity to allow this provision to go forward, and I would hope that my Republican colleagues would join us in supporting the removal of this provision."
Neguse: I think it is outrageous for these Republican senators to effectively guarantee themselves million-dollar paydays, a provision in this bill that very clearly applies to them. The removal of all relevant immunity defenses on the part of the United States government. This… pic.twitter.com/ukmEnybcd7
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 12, 2025
Democrats weren't the only congresspeople who criticized the provision, as Reps. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas) also said that it should be removed, although they both expressed concern that doing so would prolong the government shutdown.
"I personally agree this should removed," Scott said, according to HuffPost reporter Igor Bobic. "The problem is if we remove it, it has to go back to the Senate. I’ve struggled with what to do."
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House GOP Has 'Shut Down Congress' to Avoid Voting on Epstein Files
"Who's he gonna pick?" Republican Thomas Massie asked of Speaker Mike Johnson. "Is he going to stand with the pedophiles and underage sex traffickers? Or is he gonna pick the American people and justice for the victims?"
Jul 22, 2025
Republicans on the House Rules Committee have ground business in the chamber to a halt to avoid having to vote on Democratic amendments calling for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
For weeks now, Republicans in Congress, facing pressure from the White House, have dodged efforts to force the release of the files, which may implicate U.S. President Donald Trump in crimes committed by the convicted sex criminal.
According to Axios, the House had been scheduled to vote on GOP legislation involving immigration and environmental legislation this week. But in order for these votes to reach the floor, they'd first need to pass through the Speaker-controlled Rules Committee, which has also been presented with multiple Epstein amendments.
Republicans on House Rules "don't want to vote no because they're then accused of helping hide the truth about Epstein," Punchbowl News reported Tuesday morning. So instead, they've chosen to simply stop work for the week to avoid having to vote at all.
This has essentially ground all business in the House to a halt, potentially until after Congress gets back from its August recess.
On Monday, the ranking Democrat on the Rules Committee, Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), told Politico reporter Mia Camille, "We're done in [the] Rules Committee until September."
"The Rules Committee decides what gets voted on in the House. It's where Republicans have already voted six times against forcing the release of the Epstein files," said Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.). "They'd rather shut down Congress than vote to release the files. What are they hiding?"
The Epstein cloud has only grown thicker over the White House over the past week after The Wall Street Journal reported that in 2003, Trump gave Epstein a salacious letter for his 50th birthday containing talk of a "secret" between the two men and a drawing of a nude woman. Trump has sued The Journal, calling the letter "a fake thing."
The New York Times later reported that a decade earlier, Trump hosted a party full of young women where Epstein was the only other guest.
Amid the drip of scandal, the White House has remained dismissive of calls, including from the president's own supporters, for the Department of Justice to release all its files related to Epstein.
Not long ago, officials in his administration made promises to release the files themselves, assuring damning revelations. But now, Trump describes the files as a "hoax" by the "radical left." Of the Trump-faithful who have called for their release, he said, "I don't want their support anymore!"
Late last week, Trump called for the DOJ to release grand jury transcripts pertaining to the investigation. But many other critical pieces of information, including ones that could implicate the president, would remain hidden.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has closely coordinated the House GOP's response to the Epstein fiasco with the White House, saying repeatedly that there is "no daylight" between his position and that of the administration.
Johnson last week introduced a non-binding resolution to provide the public with "certain" Epstein-related documents, but it had no legal weight, allowing the White House to have total control over the information they disclosed. But even that resolution, Johnson said, would not be brought forth for a vote until after the August recess.
This has provoked the ire of a fellow Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who—along with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.)—drafted a discharge petition last week in an attempt to force a vote on the Epstein files onto the House floor.
"I think this is the referendum on [Johnson's] leadership," Massie said. "Who's he gonna pick? Is he going to stand with the pedophiles and underage sex traffickers? Or is he gonna pick the American people and justice for the victims?"
Last week, a CNN/SSRS poll found that just 3% of Americans were satisfied with the amount of information the government had released about the Epstein files, while more than half said they were dissatisfied.
"This is the ultimate decision the speaker needs to make. And it's irrespective of what the president wants," Massie said.
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'What Are They Hiding?': Republicans Block Vote to Release Epstein Files
"We won't stop until the files are released," Rep. Ro Khanna said after the GOP shot down his amendment. "This may have been our first attempt, but the public will not be gaslit. We will keep fighting for transparency."
Jul 15, 2025
Republicans on the House Rules Committee have blocked an amendment that would force the Department of Justice to release the full Jeffrey Epstein files to the public.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) introduced the amendment to a cryptocurrency bill on Monday, seizing on the controversy that erupted after the Trump administration said it would not release any more documents related to the sex-trafficking billionaire.
Had the measure passed out of committee, it would have required the entire House to vote on whether to force Attorney General Pam Bondi to publish all documents related to Epstein to a "publicly accessible website."
"Trump promised that his administration would release the Epstein files to the public," Khanna said before the amendment's introduction. "Now, the Department of Justice is shielding Trump's rich and powerful friends by refusing to release additional files."
All four Democrats on the committee voted for Khanna's amendment. They were joined by Republican Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.). Seven other Republicans voted the measure down, while Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) did not vote.
Explaining why he joined Democrats, Norman said: "The public's been asking for it. I think there are files. All of a sudden not to have files is a little strange. We'll see how it plays out… I think the president will do the right thing."
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), the chair of the Rules Committee, defended her colleagues' decision to vote down the amendment.
"I think most of us believe what's appropriate will be released when it is time for the president to release it," Foxx said.
The administration's back-track on the Epstein files has ripped apart the MAGA coalition in recent days, with prominent Trump allies issuing some of their fiercest criticisms of the president's entire second term after he told the public to "not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein."
Trump himself is also potentially implicated in the release of the files. He has a well-documented history with Epstein, who once referred to himself on tape as "Donald Trump's closest friend."
In June, amid a public falling-out with the president, billionaire Elon Musk said that the Trump administration, which he'd just departed, was covering up the files to protect Trump.
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), who voted in favor of the amendment, said before the vote that it was of particular interest to her as the chair of the Democratic Women's Caucus.
"The Epstein files concern the abuse of women and the abuse of children," Fernández said to her Republican colleagues. "Why are they not just releasing them?"
"What are they hiding?" she asked on Instagram after the vote failed.
Khanna said this will not be the last attempt to get a vote to the House floor for a release of the files.
"We should see whose side are you on. That's really what this Epstein file issue has become," he told MSNBC. "It's not just about knowing who's being protected, the rich and the powerful...who had interactions with Jeffrey Epstein. It's the sense that people have that the government is too beholden to certain interests who have their thumb on the scale."
He mentioned other Democratic congresspeople who are pushing for the release of the files, including Marc Veasey (D-Texas) who introduced his own resolution calling for their release this weekend.
"We won't stop until the files are released," Khanna wrote on X. "This may have been our first attempt, but the public will not be gaslit. We will keep fighting for transparency."
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